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defesa

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word defesa

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1311 More words from the 14th century
Inherited from
Latin defensa
Ultimate origin
Latin dēfendō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin dēfendō
French défendre
Italian difendere
Portuguese defender
Spanish defender
Latin dēfēnsa
Italian difesa
Portuguese defesa
Portuguese devesa
Spanish dehesa
French défense
Spanish defensa
From the same root
English fence ← dēfendō
Latin dēfēnsiō ← dēfendō
Latin dēfēnsīvus ← dēfendō
Latin dēfēnsō ← dēfendō
Latin dēfēnsor ← dēfendō

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /deˈfe.zɐ/[1]
  • Portugal: /dɨˈfe.zɐ/[1]

Forms

defesa f (plural defesas)[1] Houaiss records defesa in 1331 and deffessa in 1346;[2][3] Cunha has defessa in the 14th century.[2][3] Defeza was a common spelling until the 19th century.[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“defence”), written Old Galician-Portuguese defesa in the oldest texts.[2][3][1] The Latin noun was formed on the stem of the past participle of dēfendō (“to ward off, defend”).[2] Nascentes regards the word as semi-learned.[5] The learned defensa and the popular devesa “enclosed pasture”, with the ⟨f⟩ voiced, come from the same Latin noun.[1][5][2]

Corominas explains the pasture sense: in the Middle Ages the Latin word meant “prohibition”, and a pasture of that kind was usually fenced off.[6] This gave Spanish dehesa beside the learned defensa, and Galician devesa, the only form Corominas knows from Galicia, while Portugal uses both the ⟨v⟩ and the ⟨f⟩ form in this sense.[6] The ordinary noun is Italian difesa and French défense.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1141, is the form defessam in a Latin charter, in the sense of devesa, an enclosed ground.[2] The Portuguese noun is dated 1311 in the sense “act of defending” and is spelt defesa in 1331.[2] In a cantiga d'escarnho Estevan da Guarda uses it for a prohibition: el-Rei pôs tal defesa “the king laid down such a ban”.[8] The Crónica of 1344 says of a fighter that “his defence did not help him” (sua defesa nõ lhe prestou), and a document of 1382 speaks of letters, orders or defesas “prohibitions”.[8]

Semantic evolution

The medieval language used the word both for defending and for forbidding.[8] Cardoso (1569) glosses it as a repulse, Latin depulsio;[9][4] Folqman (1755) has defesa no crime, the plea a man makes in his own defence.[9][4] Morais (1789) lists a fortified place, a walled place that may not be entered, devesa, and the reasons alleged against an accusation.[10]

Modern dictionaries add the defence of a thesis, the defensive players of a team and, in Portuguese football, a defender, the openings for Black in chess, self-defence, national defence and its ministry, and the body's resistance to disease;[2][1][11] Figueiredo (1899) records tusks and horns, and Houaiss a large rural estate in the Alentejo.[2][1][11] In informal Brazilian use defesa is getting money or an advantage by any means.[2]

Timeline

  • 1141 – a Latin charter has defessam “enclosed ground”.[2]
  • 1311 – first record of the sense “act of defending”.[2]
  • 1331 – the spelling defesa.[2]
  • 1344 – sua defesa nõ lhe prestou in the Crónica of 1344.[8]
  • 1382 – defesas “prohibitions” in a royal document.[8]
  • c. 1430 – the earliest record in the CTA prose corpus, the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437).[12]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin depulsio.[9]
  • 1789 – Morais lists a fortified place and the plea against an accusation.[10]
  • 1899 – Figueiredo records tusks and horns.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. defence; the act of defending or defending oneself: Saiu em defesa da irmã.[2][13][1]
  2. The ability to resist attack; resistance.[2]
  3. Something that protects; defensive works, protection.[2][1]
  4. National defence, the military system of a country;[2] (capitalised) the ministry in charge of it.[2]
  5. A method of protecting oneself: defesa pessoal “self-defence”.[2][14]
  6. An argument in justification;[2][1] (law) the case for the accused, and the lawyers who present it.[2][1]
  7. The oral presentation of a thesis or dissertation.[2][1]
  8. (sports) Defensive play; the defensive players of a team;[2][1][14] (Portugal, football) a defender.[2][1][14]
  9. (chess) An opening for Black.[2][1]
  10. (medicine) The body's resistance to physical, chemical and biological harm.[2]
  11. (zoology) A tusk.[2][11]
  12. A ban, a prohibition.[2][15]
  13. (Alentejo) A large rural estate.[2][16]
  14. (Brazil, informal) Getting money or an advantage by any means.[2]

Word family

  • autodefesa

Usage notes

The noun is said with a closed e (/ê/).[2][17] Defesa is also the feminine of the adjective defeso “forbidden”.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. defesa
  3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. defender
  4. ^ a b c Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. defesa
  5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. defesa
  6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 435
  7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 150
  8. ^ a b c d e Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. defesa
  9. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. defesa
  10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 367
  11. ^ a b c d Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 384
  12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. defesa
  13. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. defesa
  14. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. defesa
  15. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2718
  16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. defesa
  17. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. defesa
  18. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. defesa

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Defesa.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/defesa. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·